Effect of mycosynthesized silver nanoparticles from filtrate of Trichoderma harzianum against larvae and pupa of dengue vector Aedes aegypti L

Mosquitoes transmit dreadful diseases, causing millions of deaths every year. Therefore, screening for larvicidal and pupicidal activity of microbial extracts attributes could lead to development of new and improved mosquito control methods that are economical and safe for nontarget organisms and are ecofriendly. Synthetic chemical insecticides occupy predominant position in control strategies. These hazardous chemicals exert unwarranted toxicity and lethal effects on nontarget organisms, develop physiological resistance in target, and cause adverse environmental effect. For vector control, fungal-mediated natural products have been a priority in this area at present. In the current study, effective larvicidal and pupicidal effect of mycosynthesized silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) using an entomopathogenic fungi Trichoderma harzianum against developmental stages of the dengue vector Aedes aegypti was investigated. An attractive possibility of green nanotechnology is to use microorganisms in the synthesis of nanosilver especially Ag NPs. The mycosynthesized Ag NPs were characterized to find their unique properties through UV-visible spectrophotometer, X-ray diffraction analysis, Fourier transform infrared, and surface characteristics by scanning electron microscopy. To analyze the bioefficacy, different test concentrations for extracellular filtrate (0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, and 1.0 %) and Ag NPs (0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20, and 0.25 %) were prepared to a final volume of 200 mL using deionized water; 20 larvae of each instars (I–IV) and pupa were exposed to each test concentration separately which included a set of control (distilled water) group with five replicates. Characterization of the synthesized Ag NPs were about 10–20 nm without aggregation. Susceptibility of larval instars to synthesized Ag NPs was higher than the extracellular filtrate of T. harzianum alone after 24-h exposure, where the highest mortality was recorded as 92 and 96 % for first and second instars and 100 % for third, fourth instars, and pupa. Lethal concentration 50 values of 0.079, 0.084, 0.087, 0.068, and 0.026 % were recorded for I–IV instars and pupa, respectively, when exposed to Ag NPs at 0.25 % concentration. Toxicity was exhibited against first (1.076 %), second (0.912 %), third (0.770 %), fourth (0.914 %) instars larvae, and pupa (0.387 %) with extracellular filtrate at a concentration of 1 % that was three- to fourfold higher compared to Ag NPs; no mortality was observed in the control. The present study is the first report on effective larvicidal and pupicidal activity of Ag NPs synthesized from an entomopathogenic fungi T. harzianum extracellular filtrate and could be an ideal ecofriendly, single-step, and inexpensive approach for the control of A. aegypti.